Industrial Placement Student Review

The year at Waitrose has been one of the most challenging and rewarding years so far! I have loved being part of such a distinctive business with a unique way of operating in a challenging industry like food retail. From day one, I became part of the team and was treated as such, I have never been just a placement student. The team have always given me work that has a real and lasting impact on the business, the projects have always had a tangible impact and this is something that has only added to my enjoyment of the year. Knowing that your work is contributing to the success of the business is such a great reward.

I brought with me some experience from working in Waitrose branches, this is always hugely valued by head office partners as it allows us to really ensure we are delivering the best possible outcome for our store and build the important reputation between branches and head office. My colleagues have always been keen to listen to my experiences, actively encourage me to contribute in discussions/meetings and I always feel as though I have added value.

The support from my line manager has been fantastic from day one. I said that I wanted feedback from the start and he has honoured this commitment. We regularly discuss my performance, my achievements and personal development and we utilise 360 feedback. We are both very keen to learn from one another. My line manager has always been keen to offer great personal development opportunities for me and has actively encouraged me to experience other departments, build a professional network and has suggested a number of great events to join. We worked hard to develop a great personal development plan for me which has acted as a great tool for setting goals, provided constant focus for my time in the department and prompted me to reflect openly and honestly on my experiences in Waitrose. The office culture can be very challenging when you first join and my line manager has been very proactive in helping me to work through the challenges it presents.

I had the perfect balance. I have some exceptionally busy days with meetings or other activities related to projects that I am currently working on but I'm also lucky to have days where I can crack on with work at my desk. The business really encourages you to manage your own time in a way that best suits you and I've tried to embrace this as much as possible. Working flexibly is a positive culture we encourage in Commercial Operations so if you need to visit branches or work from home, then it's never a problem.

I had a great mix of projects where I was there to support other partners with the work, but I have also been given other pieces of work where I have really taken ownership of it. This work has included the design of a pricing structure for our Channel Islands stores, the development of new processes for supporting our suppliers with technical issues, research to support and develop a new process for the management of unexplained wastage in hospitality.

I have learnt how to really manage my time effectively! I've got a much better understanding of the pace I work at and the resources/tools I need to support me in doing so. Going back to a university I'm really hoping to continue to work in a similar way to this year, I've got a much better appreciation of how much I can do in one day. I've also been able to explore the strengths I can bring to a team, so with this knowledge I will try to ensure that we allocate tasks far more efficiently during group work, and ensure that they play to people's individual strengths a little better than I did before. I have also discovered that I have a natural flair for data analytics and presenting this back to stakeholders, this knowledge will really help me to shape and refine my university presentations to ensure they are delivering far closer to the brief than in previous years. I'm also acutely aware of what information I need to delivery during thee presentations and will work harder to ensure that I'm delivering the most important information to time poor people.

Really positive and focused. I worked in a department that prides itself on being very forward thinking and its constant desire to strive to be better. We had a fantastic working flexibly culture in our team which is something I really valued and I know people of a similar age value do too. I've also been lucky to work in a department with such a great sense of fun, we are a close knit team with a real mix of personalities that seem to bounce off one another a lot of the time!

The Partnership has been running the industrial placement scheme for a number of years now and are totally set up for industrial placement students. We received fantastic support from resourcing before we even joined the business, and this really made me feel welcome! The department has been recruiting for placement students for a number of years too so they have worked to ensure that the student has the best experience possible.

The partnership runs a number of development days for Industrial Placement students throughout the year, and we had real input into the design of these to ensure they provided us with maximum value. If I needed training on a certain system then there were always a number of people who were only too happy to share their knowledge with me. We've got a great system called the Partner Development Website that provides a number of resources and opportunities for development and training. If you work closely with your manager, you'll be able to build a development plan that best supports you.

Having worked for the Partnership for four years before joining the placement scheme, I feel really positive about the employment prospects moving forwards! I'm actively researching jobs I'd be interested in so I can work to develop the key skills and attributes that the partnership are looking for in candidates.

Yes! As placement students we organised a number of things throughout the year including nights out, meals out, a day at Ascot racecourse, holidays together etc. Some of the other students live together in Reading so they have even more opportunities to socialise together. As colleagues, we are very social in the department, we have regular team days, lunches out to celebrate new jobs etc, and just informal team evenings together.

I lived at home for my placement year so I don't really know the true cost of living in Bracknell/Reading. The cost of socialising is fairly average for the south of England, it is not noticeably more expensive than anywhere else! As Waitrose partners, we have access to Partner Choice - a website that contains a wealth of discounts, offers and special events for partners. This cuts the cost of socialising considerably.

I don't live in Bracknell so I don't really know!

Yes! The Partnership has a number of different clubs and societies that we can join including the wine club and the sailing club. If there's something you're interested in then you're more than likely to find a society that meets your needs. As a business we actively encourage our partners to take part in voluntary work so we receive great support in finding a voluntary activity that meets our needs.